Systems and methods for notifying a user when activity level exceeds an authorization level

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for generating a notification when activity exceeds an authorization level are provided. A determination is made as to whether content currently being presented to a first user exceeds an authorization level associated with the first user. In response to determining that the content exceeds the authorization level, the content being presented is monitored to determine whether the content meets a criterion. An amount of time the content being presented meets the criterion is measured. In response to determining that the amount of time exceeds a threshold, a communication is transmitted to a second user indicating that the content currently being presented to the first user exceeds the authorization level.

BACKGROUND

Traditional systems enable a parent user at a remote location to monitorwhat content a child user is viewing in the home. These systems may evennotify the parent user when the child user accesses content on which theparent user has placed restrictions. However, these traditional systemsdo not account for other factors surrounding the unpermitted contentaccess before informing the parent user. As such, these systems tend togenerate too many false positives and overburden the parent user withinadvertent notifications.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing, systems and methods for notifying a user whenactivity exceeds an authorization level are provided. Specifically, thesystems and methods transmit a communication to a second user when afirst user is performing activity for a given period of time thatexceeds an authorization level of the first user.

In some embodiments, a request from a first user to access content isreceived. A determination is made as to whether the requested contentthat is currently being presented to a first user exceeds anauthorization level associated with the first user. In some embodiments,the authorization level corresponds to a content rating.

In some embodiments, in response to determining that the content exceedsthe authorization level, the content being presented is monitored todetermine whether the content meets a criterion. An amount of time thecontent being presented meets the criterion is measured. In response todetermining that the amount of time exceeds a threshold, a communicationis transmitted to a second user indicating that the content currentlybeing presented to the first user exceeds the authorization level. Insome implementations, the second user may be at a location remote fromthe first user and the first user may be operating one user equipmentdevice while the second user may be operating a different user equipmentdevice (e.g., a second screen device). The communication may bepresented to the second user and may include an identifier of thecontent, description of the content, identifier of the user and optionsrelating to controlling the user equipment used by the first user toaccess the content. The communication may enable the second user toprevent further access by the first user to the content currently beingpresented to the first user. The communication may enable the seconduser to establish a voice or video call with the first user.

In some embodiments, the content includes a program segment and anadvertising segment. The content may be monitored to determine whetherthe content currently being presented corresponds to the program segmentor the advertising segment. The content being presented is determined tomeet the criterion when the content currently being presentedcorresponds to the program segment. In such circumstances, themeasurement of time during which the content is presented represents howlong the first user was accessing a program segment only and discountsthe portions of the time the first user was accessing an advertisingsegment.

In some embodiments, a timer is run while the content being presentedmeets the criterion. When the content being presented fails to meet thecriterion, the timer is paused. The timer may be resumed when thecontent being presented meets the criterion following the contentfailing to meet the criterion.

In some embodiments, a progression point in the content past a startingpoint of the content is determined. A type of the content that is beingpresented at the progression point is identified. The criterion used tocondition measuring time, during which the content is being presented,is retrieved based on the type of the content. In some implementations,the threshold is retrieved based on the type of the content beingpresented at the progression point. In some implementations, thecriterion is determined based on a user profile.

In some embodiments, the amount of time may be measured at a faster ratewhen the content currently being presented is of a first type. In someembodiments, the amount of time may be measured at a slower rate whenthe content currently being presented is of a second type. For example,the timer may run faster (e.g., to reach the threshold at a faster rate)when the content being presented includes nudity but may run slower(e.g., to reach the threshold at a slower rate) when the content beingpresented does not include nudity or includes an animation. In someembodiments, the threshold may be adjusted based on at least one of anumber of other users within proximity of the first user and anattribute of another user within the proximity of the first user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 show illustrative display screens that may be used toprovide media guidance application listings in accordance with anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative user equipment device in accordance withanother embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an illustrative cross-platform interactive mediasystem in accordance with another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative display of an authorization level setupscreen in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative display of a view timer setup screen inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative flow diagram of a process for notifying auser when activity exceeds an authorization level in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The amount of content available to users in any given content deliverysystem can be substantial. Consequently, many users desire a form ofmedia guidance through an interface that allows users to efficientlynavigate content selections and easily identify content that they maydesire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to hereinas an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a mediaguidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms dependingon the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type ofmedia guidance application is an interactive television program guide.Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to aselectronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that,among other things, allow users to navigate among and locate many typesof content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications maygenerate graphical user interface screens that enable a user to navigateamong, locate and select content.

As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should beunderstood to mean an electronically consumable user asset, such astelevision programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demandprograms (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g.,streaming content, downloadable content, webcasts, etc.), video clips,audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents,playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs,advertisements, chat sessions, social media, chat rooms, applications,games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/or combination of thesame. Guidance applications also allow users to navigate among andlocate content. As referred to herein, the term “multimedia” should beunderstood to mean content that utilizes at least two different contentforms described above, for example, text, audio, images, video, orinteractivity content forms. Content may be recorded, played, displayedor accessed by user equipment devices, but can also be part of a liveperformance.

As referred to herein, the phrase “authorization level” means a measureof content classification identifying the type and strength of maturecontent or a measure of type of access permitted on a user equipmentdevice. Higher authorization levels allow access to content having moremature content than lower authorization levels. Higher authorizationlevels allow access to more resources (e.g., on-demand content,pay-per-view content and longer periods of use) than lower authorizationlevels. Namely, a lower authorization level restricts access to contenthaving less mature content than a higher authorization level. Higherauthorization levels may allow access to a greater selection of contentthan a lower authorization level. Specifically, an authorization levelof R may allow access to R-rated content and PG-13 and below while anauthorization level of PG-13 may allow access to PG-13 content and belowbut not R-rated content because an R-rating may be associated with ahigher level than PG-13. In some implementations, the authorizationlevel may correspond to the television rating system (e.g., ‘A’ foradult themes and/or dangerous stunts—USED IN: PG, M, MA, AV/MAV, R andX. Strengths Are: “Adult Themes” (PG) & “Strong Adult Themes” (M, MA,AV, R & X); ‘V’ for violence—USED IN: PG, M, MA, AV/MAV, and R.Strengths Are: “Mild Violence” (PG), “Some Violence” (PG, M, MA),“Frequent Violence” (M, AV), “Strong Violence” (M, AV) & “FrequentStrong Violence” (AV.); ‘L’ for coarse language—USED IN: PG, M, MA,AV/MAV, R and X. Strengths Are: “Mild Coarse Language” (PG), “SomeCoarse Language” (PG, M, MA, AV, R & X), “Frequent Coarse Language” (M,MA, AV, R & X), “Very Coarse Language” (M, MA, AV, R & X) & “FrequentVery Coarse Language” (MA, AV, R & X); ‘S’ for sexual references and/orsex scenes—USED IN: PG, M, MA, AV/MAV R and X. Strengths Are: “SexualReferences” (PG, M, MA, AV, R & X), “Strong Sexual References” (M, MA,AV, R & X), “A Sex Scene” (M, MA, AV, R & X), “Sex Scenes” (M, MA, AV, R& X), “A Strong Sex Scene” (M, MA, AV, R & X) & “Strong Sex Scenes” (M,MA, AV, R & X.); ‘H’ for horror or supernatural themes—USED IN: M, MA,AV/MAV and R. Strengths Are: “Horror” (M, MA, AV & R), “SupernaturalThemes” (PG, M, MA, AV & R), “Strong Horror” (M, MA, AV & R) & “StrongSupernatural Themes” (M, MA, AV & R.); and ‘D’ for drug referencesand/or drug use—USED IN: PG, M, MA, AV/MAV, R and X. Strengths Are:“Drug References” (PG, M, MA, AV, R & X), “Drug Use” (M, MA, AV, R & X),“Strong Drug References” (M, MA, AV, R & X) & “Strong Drug Use” (M, MA,AV, R & X.). In some implementations, the authorization level maycorrespond to the movie content rating system (G, PG, R, PG-13, X,NC-17).

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performingany of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computerreadable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable ofstoring data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including,but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals,or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile andnon-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk,floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processorcaches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speedwireless networks, users are accessing media on user equipment deviceson which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase“user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronicdevice,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “mediadevice” should be understood to mean any device for accessing thecontent described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-topbox, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellitetelevision, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), adigital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, aDVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, aBLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PCmedia server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationarytelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, aportable video player, a portable music player, a portable gamingmachine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computingequipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. In someembodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screenand a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angledscreens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a frontfacing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipmentdevices, users may be able to navigate among and locate the same contentavailable through a television. Consequently, media guidance may beavailable on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be forcontent available only through a television, for content available onlythrough one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or forcontent available both through a television and one or more of the othertypes of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may beprovided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a website), or asstand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Variousdevices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications aredescribed in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to providemedia guidance data to users. As referred to herein, the phrase, “mediaguidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any datarelated to content, such as media listings, media-related information(e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, titles, descriptions,ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings,etc.), messages from a crowd of users on a social network, messages froma crowd of users posted to a blog or website, genre or categoryinformation, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' orproviders' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, highdefinition, 3D, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images,media clips, etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and anyother type of guidance data that is helpful for a user to navigate amongand locate desired content selections. In some implementations, thisdata may be referred to as a data feed. As referred to herein, the term“crowd” should be understood to mean any number of users greater thanone.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to providemedia guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2, 5 and 6 maybe implemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. Whilethe displays of FIGS. 1-2, 5 and 6 are illustrated as full screendisplays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over contentbeing displayed. A user may indicate a desire to access contentinformation by selecting a selectable option provided in a displayscreen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink,etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remotecontrol or other user input interface or device. In response to theuser's indication, the media guidance application may provide a displayscreen with media guidance data organized in one of several ways, suchas by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by source, bycontent type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, orother categories of programming), or other predefined, user-defined, orother organization criteria. The organization of the media guidance datais determined by guidance application data. As referred to herein, thephrase, “guidance application data” should be understood to mean dataused in operating the guidance application, such as program information,guidance application settings, user preferences, or user profileinformation.

As referred to herein, the phrase “in response” should be understood tomean automatically, directly and immediately as a result of, withoutfurther input from the user, or automatically based on the correspondingaction where intervening inputs or actions may occur.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid program listings display 100 arranged bytime and channel that also enables access to different types of contentin a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with: (1) a columnof channel/content type identifiers 104, where each channel/content typeidentifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a differentchannel or content type available; and (2) a row of time identifiers106, where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifiesa time block of programming. Grid 102 also includes cells of programlistings, such as program listing 108, where each listing provides thetitle of the program provided on the listing's associated channel andtime. With a user input device, a user can select program listings bymoving highlight region 110. Information relating to the program listingselected by highlight region 110 may be provided in program informationregion 112. Region 112 may include, for example, the program title, theprogram description, the time the program is provided (if applicable),the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, andother desired information.

In addition to, or as alternative to, providing access to linearprogramming (e.g., content that is scheduled to be transmitted to aplurality of user equipment devices at a predetermined time and isprovided according to a schedule), from content sources (e.g.,television channels or scheduled streaming sources) the media guidanceapplication may also provide access to non-linear programming (e.g.,content accessible to a user equipment device at any time and notprovided according to a schedule). Non-linear programming may includecontent from different content sources including on-demand content(e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadablemedia, etc.), locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any userequipment device described above or other storage device), or othertime-independent content. On-demand content may include movies or anyother content provided by a particular content provider (e.g., HBO OnDemand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ONDEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P. et al. andTHE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the HomeBox Office, Inc. Internet content may include web events, such as a chatsession or Webcast, or content available on-demand as streaming contentor downloadable content through an Internet website or other Internetaccess (e.g., FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programmingincluding on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, andInternet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance datafor content from different types of content sources is sometimesreferred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of thetypes of media guidance data that may be displayed that are differentfrom display 100 may be based on user selection or guidance applicationdefinition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings,only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayedin grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provideaccess to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings,or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings forthese content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additionalmedia guidance data may be displayed in response to the user selectingone of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a userinput device may affect the display in a similar manner as selectingnavigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, andoptions region 126. Video region 122 may allow the user to view and/orpreview programs that are currently available, will be available, orwere available to the user. The content of video region 122 maycorrespond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed ingrid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referredto as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and theirfunctionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat.No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included inother media guidance application display screens of the embodimentsdescribed herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that,depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscriptionprogramming), is currently available for viewing, will be available forviewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, andmay correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listingsin grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or servicesrelated or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement124 may be selectable and provide further information about content,provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing ofcontent, a product, or a service, provide content relating to theadvertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a user'sprofile/preferences, monitored user activity, the type of displayprovided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped,advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and locationin a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may beprovided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. Inaddition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidanceapplication display or embedded within a display. Advertisements mayalso include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other typesof content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a userequipment device having a guidance application, in a database connectedto the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming mediaservers), or on other storage means, or a combination of theselocations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application isdiscussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, IIIet al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al.U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will beappreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidanceapplication display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the user to access different types ofcontent, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidanceapplication features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (andother display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a user byselecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignablebutton on a user input device. The selectable options within optionsregion 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102or may include options available from a main menu display. Featuresrelated to program listings may include searching for other airtimes orways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling seriesrecording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite,purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a mainmenu display may include search options, VOD options (e.g., fast-accessplayback operations), parental control options, Internet options,cloud-based options, device synchronization options, options to set up atimer for transmitting a notification to a user about activity thatexceeds an authorization level, options to set up an authorization levelfor one or more users, second screen device options, options to accessvarious types of media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to apremium service, options to edit a user's profile, options to access abrowse overlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a user'spreferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a user tocustomize displays and features to create a personalized “experience”with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may becreated by allowing a user to input these customizations and/or by themedia guidance application monitoring user activity to determine varioususer preferences. Users may access their personalized guidanceapplication by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to theguidance application. Customization of the media guidance applicationmay be made in accordance with a user profile. The customizations mayinclude varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays,font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g.,only HDTV or only 3D programming, user-specified broadcast channelsbased on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display ofchannels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g.,recording or series recordings for particular users, recording quality,etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internetcontent (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail,electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desiredcustomizations.

The media guidance application may allow a user to provide user profileinformation or may automatically compile user profile information. Themedia guidance application may, for example, monitor the content theuser accesses and/or other interactions the user may have with theguidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application mayobtain all or part of other user profiles that are related to aparticular user (e.g., from other websites on the Internet the useraccesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidanceapplications the user accesses, from other interactive applications theuser accesses, from another user equipment device of the user, etc.),and/or obtain information about the user from other sources that themedia guidance application may access. As a result, a user can beprovided with a unified guidance application experience across theuser's different user equipment devices. The user profile informationmay include identifiers of one or more social networks or blogs the useris associated with. For each social network or blog a username andpassword (e.g., log-in information) may be stored in the user profileinformation. Control circuitry 304 may utilize this information in theuser profile to automatically access the social network or blog to postor transmit information/content/segments to or retrieveinformation/contents/segments from the social network or blog. This typeof user experience is described in greater detail below in connectionwith FIG. 4. Additional personalized media guidance application featuresare described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S.Pat. No. 7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. PatentApplication Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown inFIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 forcontent information organized based on content type, genre, and/or otherorganization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 isselected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcastprogram listings. In display 200, the listings may provide graphicalimages including cover art, still images from the content, video clippreviews, live video from the content, or other types of content thatindicate to a user the content being described by the media guidancedata in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also beaccompanied by text to provide further information about the contentassociated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include morethan one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216.Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to viewcontent in full-screen or to view information related to the contentdisplayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channelthat the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 islarger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all thelistings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes orgraphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the user orto emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider orbased on user preferences. Various systems and methods for graphicallyaccentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S.Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Dec. 29, 2005,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Users may access content and the media guidance application (and itsdisplay screens described above and below) from one or more of theiruser equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment ofillustrative user equipment device 300. More specific implementations ofuser equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4.User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output(hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g.,broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, contentavailable over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN),and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includesprocessing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may beused to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable datausing I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (andspecifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communicationspaths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more ofthese communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 toavoid overcomplicating the drawing.

In some embodiments, a viewing history may be stored in storage 308 fora user. The viewing history may include indications of which mediaassets have been viewed by a given user. The viewing history may alsoinclude, for each media asset, which portion or portions have or havenot been viewed by the user. In some implementations, the viewinghistory may include indications of which users in a group of users haveseen or viewed a media asset or a particular segment of a media asset.The group of users may be users in a certain geographical location(e.g., in the same home) or users that are associated with each other ona social network.

In some embodiments, authorization levels for one or more users,criteria against which content is compared to condition measurement ofhow long the content is presented, and threshold against which the timemeasurement is compared for triggering the transmission of anotification about activity that exceeds an authorization level may bestored in storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve from storage308 an authorization level for a first user. Control circuitry 304 maymonitor the content being presented to determine whether the contentexceeds the authorization level associated with the first user (e.g., achild user). In response to determining that the content exceeds theauthorization level, control circuitry 304 may retrieve a criterion fromstorage 308 and monitor the content being presented to determine whetherthe criterion is met. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve a thresholdfrom storage 308 and measure the length of time the content beingpresented meets the criterion. Upon determining that the length of timeexceeds the retrieved threshold, control circuitry 304 may instructcommunications circuitry to transmit a communication to a second userindicating that activity performed by the first user exceeds anauthorization level. In some embodiments, the communication may be sentto the second user as an e-mail, SMS message, MMS message, text message,audio or phone call, video or video call.

In some embodiments, the communication may include informationassociated with the content that was accessed that exceeds theauthorization level. For example, the communication may include thetitle of the content, the identity of the first user, description of thecontent, rating of the content, attribute of the content, and/or anyother information listed in region 620 (FIG. 6) that is associated withthe content.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitrysuch as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processingcircuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or moremicroprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors,programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs),application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may includea multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or anysuitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments,processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separateprocessors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same typeof processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multipledifferent processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Corei7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executesinstructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e.,storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed bythe media guidance application to perform the functions discussed aboveand below. For example, the media guidance application may provideinstructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidancedisplays. In some implementations, any action performed by controlcircuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the mediaguidance application.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may include voice or verbalinput processing circuitry, such as a voice recognition engine 316. Thisvoice or verbal input processing circuitry may include any interfacethat performs a voice recognition process. Control circuitry 304 maycontinuously or periodically access the microphone of user inputinterface 310 to detect the presence of voice input. Upon detectingvoice input, control circuitry 304 may utilize voice recognition engine316 (implemented in software or with dedicated circuitry) to identifywho the user is who provided the verbal input. Based on thisidentification, control circuitry 304 may retrieve from storage 308 thecorresponding authorization level of the user.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may include a biometricresponse engine 318. Biometric response engine 318 may include circuitrythat remotely or directly monitors a user's physiological and physicalresponses to content being presented. For example, biometric responseengine 318 may include a heart pulse rate monitor, facial expression orposition detection circuitry, eye movement and position detectioncircuitry, breathing pattern detection circuitry, user position andorientation detection circuitry, and/or any combination thereof. Controlcircuitry 304 may continuously or periodically access biometric responseengine 318 to detect any changes (or interest) in physiological and/orphysical attributes of a user at or during specified sections of a mediacontent being presented. Upon detecting a change in the biometricresponse of the user (e.g., indicating change in interest), controlcircuitry 304 may utilize a biometric response database to identify whothe user associated with the biometric response. Based on thisidentification, control circuitry 304 may retrieve from storage 308 thecorresponding authorization level of the user.

In client-server-based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may includecommunications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidanceapplication server or other networks or servers. The instructions forcarrying out the above-mentioned functionality may be stored on theguidance application server. Communications circuitry may include acable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, adigital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card,or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or anyother suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involvethe Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths(which are described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). Inaddition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enablespeer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communicationof user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (describedin more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 thatis part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase“electronic storage device,” “storage circuitry,” or “storage device”should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data,computer software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-onlymemory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders,compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3Ddisc recorders, digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called apersonal video recorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storagedevices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed orremovable storage devices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage308 may be used to store various types of content described herein aswell as media guidance data and guidance application data that aredescribed above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch aboot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, describedin relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplement storage 308 or insteadof storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuningcircuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, orany other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of suchcircuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog,or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided.Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconvertingand downconverting content into the preferred output format of the userequipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analogconverter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry forconverting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and todisplay, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encodingcircuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitrydescribed herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating,encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digitalcircuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or moregeneral purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may beprovided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and recordfunctions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording,etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from userequipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multipletuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user inputinterface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable userinterface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard,microphone, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voicerecognition interface, or other user input interfaces. User inputinterface 310 may include keys or displayed options that enable a userto instruct control circuitry 304 to access a last content source.Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated withother elements of user equipment device 300. Display 312 may be one ormore of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for amobile device, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visualimages. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen or touch-sensitivedisplay. In such circumstances, user input interface 312 may beintegrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may be one ormore of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for amobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature poly silicondisplay, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, active matrixdisplay, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathode raytube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescent display,plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display, thin-filmtransistor display, organic light-emitting diode display,surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television,carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulatordisplay, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images.In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In someembodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive mediaguidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. Avideo card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312.The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated renderingof 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or theability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be anyprocessing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304.Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of userequipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component ofvideos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played throughspeakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to areceiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitablearchitecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application whollyimplemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach, In suchan approach, instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g.,in storage 308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on aperiodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internetresource, or using another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 mayretrieve instructions of the application from storage 308 and processthe instructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Basedon the processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine whataction to perform when input is received from input interface 310. Forexample, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated bythe processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that anup/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-serverbased application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented onuser equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests toa server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of aclient-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs aweb browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. Forexample, the remote server may store the instructions for theapplication in a storage device. The remote server may process thestored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) andgenerate the displays discussed above and below. The client device mayreceive the displays generated by the remote server and may display thecontent of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, theprocessing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server whilethe resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300.Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via inputinterface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server forprocessing and generating the corresponding displays. For example,equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote serverindicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310.The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that inputand generate a display of the application corresponding to the input(e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display isthen transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded andinterpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (runby control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance applicationmay be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received bycontrol circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by auser agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidanceapplication may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, theguidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files thatare received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitablemiddleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of suchembodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital mediaencoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encodedand transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio andvideo packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 ofFIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404,wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of userequipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gamingmachine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to hereincollectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may besubstantially similar to user equipment devices described above. Userequipment devices, on which a media guidance application may beimplemented, may function as a stand-alone device or may be part of anetwork of devices. Various network configurations of devices may beimplemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system featuresdescribed above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solelyas user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or awireless user communications device 406. For example, user televisionequipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, beInternet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while usercomputer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, includea tuner allowing for access to television programming. The mediaguidance application may have the same layout on various different typesof user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of theuser equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, theguidance application may be provided as a website accessed by a webbrowser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled downfor wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of userequipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoidovercomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user may utilize morethan one type of user equipment device and also more than one of eachtype of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user televisionequipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communicationsdevice 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example,a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first userequipment device. The content presented on the second screen device maybe any suitable content that supplements the content presented on thefirst device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides aninterface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the firstdevice. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured forinteracting with other second screen devices or for interacting with asocial network. The second screen device can be located in the same roomas the first device, a different room from the first device but in thesame house or building, or in a different building from the first device(e.g., remote from the first device). For example, the second screen maybe associated with a second user (e.g., a parent). In response todetermining that content being presented to a first user (e.g., a child)exceeds an authorization level and meets a criterion for longer than athreshold period of time, control circuitry 304 may transmit acommunication to the second screen device of the second user. Thecommunication may indicate that the first user is accessing content thatexceeds an authorization level of the first user.

The user may also set various settings to maintain consistent mediaguidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices.Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and programfavorites, programming preferences that the guidance applicationutilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, andother desirable guidance settings. For example, if a user sets a channelas a favorite on, for example, the website www.allrovi.com on theirpersonal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as afavorite on the user's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipmentand user computer equipment) as well as the user's mobile devices, ifdesired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can changethe guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless ofwhether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device.In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a user,as well as user activity monitored by the guidance application. Forexample, a second user (e.g., a parent) may use the remote device toterminate or prevent further access to content being presented on a homedevice. This may be done in response to receiving the communication thatindicates that the first user is accessing content that exceeds anauthorization level of the first user.

In some embodiments, the second user may instruct equipment device 300on which the first user is accessing the content to pause theentertainment. In some embodiments, the second user may instructequipment device 300 on which the first user is accessing the content tomute the content. In some embodiments, in response to receiving thecommunication, the second user may establish a communication (e.g., inreal-time) with the first user. For example, the second user may send amessage (e.g., in real-time) to the first user via e-mail, text, audiocall, or video call. The communication from the second user may includea photo or image of the second user or textual message provided by thesecond user. In some implementations, the communication from the seconduser to the first user may be sent to the device on which the first userwas accessing the content that exceeded the authorization level. In suchcircumstances, the communication received from the second user may beoverlaid on top of the content being presented to the first user. Insome implementations, the communication from the second user may includean image or representation of the second user. In such circumstances, inresponse to receiving the communication at equipment device 300 on whichthe first user was accessing content, equipment device 300 may renderthe representation of the second user as a character or player in thecontent that the first user is accessing.

In some embodiments, the communication from the second user to the firstuser may be sent to any device within range of the first user (e.g., asecond screen device). In some embodiments, in response to receiving thecommunication, the second user may set additional limits for the firstuser to continue consuming the content that exceeds the authorizationlevel. In some embodiments, the first and second users may conduct alive voice or video conversation in response to the second userreceiving the communication indicating that the first user accessedcontent that exceeded the authorization level of the first user. In someembodiments, the live conversation may be established during acommercial break portion of the content. For example, equipment device300 on which the first user is accessing content may transmit a secondcommunication to the second user indicating when the content enters acommercial break and is not presenting a plot segment. When the seconduser receives that second communication, the second user may establishthe voice or video call with the first user.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414.Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, andwireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communicationsnetwork 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively.Each user of the user equipment devices may be associated with differentusers in a crowd of users. Communications network 414 may be one or morenetworks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice ordata network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), cable network, public switchedtelephone network, or other types of communications network orcombinations of communications networks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 mayseparately or together include one or more communications paths, such asa satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supportsInternet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., forbroadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired orwireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path 412 isdrawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodimentshown in FIG. 4 it is a wireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn assolid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although these paths maybe wireless paths, if desired). Communications with the user equipmentdevices may be provided by one or more of these communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipmentdevices, these devices may communicate directly with each other viacommunication paths, such as those described above in connection withpaths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-pointcommunication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wirelesspaths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or othershort-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is acertification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipmentdevices may also communicate with each other directly through anindirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of thecommunication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410,and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidancedata source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths,but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating thedrawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each isshown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The differenttypes of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, contentsource 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as onesource device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 withuser equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as throughcommunications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 maycommunicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 viacommunication paths (not shown) such as those described above inconnection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distributionequipment including a television distribution facility, cable systemheadend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g.,television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediatedistribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demandmedia servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned bythe National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by theAmerican Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by theHome Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator ofcontent (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) ormay not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand contentprovider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs fordownloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources,satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers,over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Contentsource 416 may also include a remote media server used to storedifferent types of content (including video content selected by a user),in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems andmethods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely storedcontent to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connectionwith Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, whichis hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such asthe media guidance data described above. Media guidance application datamay be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitableapproach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be astand-alone interactive television program guide that receives programguide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed).

Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to theuser equipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-banddigital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or any othersuitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and othermedia guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analogor digital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. Forexample, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from aserver, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipmentdevice. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing onthe user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtainguidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of dateor when the user equipment device receives a request from the user toreceive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment withany suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specifiedperiod of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to arequest from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 mayprovide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidanceapplication itself or software updates for the media guidanceapplication.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-aloneapplications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, themedia guidance application may be implemented as software or a set ofexecutable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executedby control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In someembodiments, media guidance applications may be client-serverapplications where only a client application resides on the userequipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. Forexample, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as aclient application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., mediaguidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of remote server415. When executed by control circuitry of remote server 415 (such asmedia guidance data source 418), the media guidance application mayinstruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance applicationdisplays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipmentdevices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry ofthe media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on theuser equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry ofthe receiving user equipment to generate the guidance applicationdisplays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT contentdelivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any userequipment device described above, to receive content that is transferredover the Internet, including any content described above, in addition tocontent received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content isdelivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet serviceprovider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP maynot be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, orredistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets providedby the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers includeYOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IPpackets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is atrademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu,LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively providemedia guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or mediaguidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidanceapplications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications),or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored onthe user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number ofapproaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devicesand sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each otherfor the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. Theembodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset ofthese approaches, or in a system employing other approaches fordelivering content and providing media guidance. The following fourapproaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example ofFIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each otherwithin a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with eachother directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemesdescribed above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similardevice provided on a home network, or via communications network 414.Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate differentuser equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may bedesirable for various media guidance information or settings to becommunicated between the different user equipment devices. For example,it may be desirable for users to maintain consistent media guidanceapplication settings on different user equipment devices within a homenetwork, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/179,410, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types ofuser equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with eachother to transmit content. For example, a user may transmit content fromuser computer equipment to a portable video player or portable musicplayer.

In a second approach, users may have multiple types of user equipment bywhich they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, someusers may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobiledevices. Users may control in-home devices via a media guidanceapplication implemented on a remote device. For example, users mayaccess an online media guidance application on a website via a personalcomputer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA orweb-enabled mobile telephone. The user may set various settings (e.g.,recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidanceapplication to control the user's in-home equipment. The online guidemay control the user's equipment directly, or by communicating with amedia guidance application on the user's in-home equipment. Varioussystems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where theuser equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, isdiscussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issuedOct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

In a third approach, users of user equipment devices inside and outsidea home can use their media guidance application to communicate directlywith content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home,users of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locatedesirable content. Users may also access the media guidance applicationoutside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 tonavigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloudcomputing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computingenvironment, various types of computing services for content sharing,storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites, blogs, news sites,or social networking sites) are provided by a collection ofnetwork-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as “thecloud.” For example, the cloud can include a collection of servercomputing devices, which may be located centrally or at distributedlocations, that provide cloud-based services to various types of usersand devices connected via a network such as the Internet viacommunications network 414. These cloud resources may include one ormore content sources 416 and one or more media guidance data sources418. In addition or in the alternative, the remote computing sites mayinclude other user equipment devices, such as user television equipment402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communicationsdevice 406. For example, the other user equipment devices may provideaccess to a stored copy of a video or a streamed video. In suchembodiments, user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer mannerwithout communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, contentsharing, access to messages posted by users in a crowd, or socialnetworking services, among other examples, as well as access to anycontent described above, for user equipment devices. Services can beprovided in the cloud through cloud computing service providers, orthrough other providers of online services. For example, the cloud-basedservices can include a content storage service, a content sharing site,a social networking site, or other services via which user-sourcedcontent is distributed for viewing by others on connected devices. Thesecloud-based services may allow a user equipment device to store contentto the cloud and to receive content from the cloud rather than storingcontent locally and accessing locally stored content.

A user may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders,digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, andhandheld computing devices, to record content. The user can uploadcontent to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, forexample, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless usercommunications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively,the user can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, suchas user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing thecontent uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmissionservice on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the userequipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipmentdevices can access the content directly from the user equipment deviceon which the user stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, forexample, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktopapplication, a mobile application, and/or any combination of accessapplications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloudclient that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or theuser equipment device may have some functionality without access tocloud resources. For example, some applications running on the userequipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications deliveredas a service over the Internet, while other applications may be storedand run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user devicemay receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. Forexample, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource whiledownloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device candownload content from multiple cloud resources for more efficientdownloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloudresources for processing operations such as the processing operationsperformed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may notify a second userabout activity performed by a first user that exceeds an authorizationlevel associated with the first user. The authorization level for thefirst user may be set using the setup screen discussed in connectionwith FIG. 5. In response to determining that content being presented tothe first user exceeds the authorization level of the first user,control circuitry 304 may retrieve criterion or criteria from storage308. The criterion or criteria may be set by a user (e.g., using setupscreen discussed in connection with FIG. 6) or automatically. Controlcircuitry 304 may compare the criterion with attributes orcharacteristics of a media asset currently being presented to the firstuser. In response to determining that the attributes or characteristicsof the media asset matches the criterion set by the user orautomatically, control circuitry 304 may start measuring a length oftime that the content being presented on the content source continues tomatch the criterion. Control circuitry 304 may compare the measuredlength of time with a threshold (set by a user or predetermined) storedin storage 308. In response to determining that the measured length oftime exceeds the threshold, control circuitry 304 may instructcommunications circuitry to notify the second user about the activityperformed by the first user that exceeds the authorization level of thefirst user.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative display screen 500 of setting up parentalcontrol restrictions or authorization levels for one or more user inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Screen 500 includes aparental control settings region 510 that includes options for definingparental control settings for different users. As referred to herein,the phrase “parental control settings” is used interchangeably with thephrase “parental control restrictions” and “authorization level”.

Control circuitry 304 may include in parental control settings region510 an identification of each user and the authorization levelassociated with the respective user. The identification of each user mayinclude a name of the user, a unique or specific identifier of the user,icon, an image or picture of the user, a video of the user, or the like.For example, a first user may be the master of user equipment device 300and, accordingly, may be authorized to access all content withoutrestrictions. The first user may be associated with a parental controlsetting that enables access to content with the highest authorizationlevel. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve from storage 308 the parentalcontrol settings associated with the first user and display anindication of the authorization level associated with the retrievedsettings next to the identifier of the first user. In particular,control circuitry 304 may determine that the first user has an unlimitedauthorization level and, accordingly, display an indication that thefirst user has no limits.

In response to receiving a user selection of modify option 512, controlcircuitry 304 may allow the user to modify the parental control settingsassociated with the first user. In some implementations, in response toreceiving the user selection of modify option 512, control circuitry 304may display a prompt requesting authentication (e.g., a PIN code oraccess code) before allowing any modifications to the parental controlsettings. In response to verifying the authenticity of the user makingthe change, control circuitry 304 may display options (similar tooptions 530, 532, 540 and 534 discussed below) allowing the user toadd/remove parental control restrictions that increase or decrease theauthorization level associated with the first user. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may receive input that restricts access to content abovean “R” rating to the first user.

Modify option 512 may be provided for each user displayed in region 510and may require separate authentication to modify each user's parentalcontrol settings. After receiving a modification to the parental controlsettings for a given user, control circuitry 304 may store or update theparental control setting or authorization level, associated with thegiven user, that is stored in storage 308.

In some embodiments, a second user may be a user having a middle rangeauthorization level. For example, the second user may be a teenagechild. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve from storage 308 the parentalcontrol settings associated with the second user and display anindication of the authorization level associated with the retrievedsettings next to the identifier of the second user. In particular,control circuitry 304 may determine that the second user has a limitedauthorization level corresponding to content rating, channel numbers orgroups, and content categories and, accordingly, control circuitry 304may display an indication of these for the second user.

Rating limit 630 may indicate what ratings of content the given user isallowed to access. Specifically, any content rating greater than thecontent rating specified by rating limit 630 may violate the parentalcontrol restriction. In response to receiving a user selection of ratinglimit 630, control circuitry 304 may allow the user to modify the ratinglimit associated with the parental control settings of the second user.In some implementations, in response to receiving the user selection ofrating limit 630, control circuitry 304 may display a prompt requestingauthentication (e.g., a PIN code or access code) before allowing anymodifications to the parental control settings. In response to verifyingthe authenticity of the user making the change, control circuitry 304may receive input that adds/removes ratings the second user isallowed/prevented from accessing and/or increases or decreases therating authorization level associated with the second user.

Channel restriction 532 may indicate what channels or groups of contentsources the given user is allowed to access. Specifically, accessing anychannel or group of channels specified by channel restriction 532 mayviolate the parental control restriction. In response to receiving auser selection of channel restriction 532, control circuitry 304 mayallow the user to modify the channel restriction associated with theparental control settings of the second user. In some implementations,in response to receiving the user selection of channel restriction 532,control circuitry 304 may display a prompt requesting authentication(e.g., a PIN code or access code) before allowing any modifications tothe parental control settings. In response to verifying the authenticityof the user making the change, control circuitry 304 may receive inputthat adds/removes channels the second user is prevented from accessingand/or increases or decreases the channel authorization level associatedwith the second user.

Category limit restriction 534 may indicate what categories of contentsources the given user is allowed to access. Specifically, accessing anycontent source specified by category limit restriction 534 may violatethe parental control restriction. In response to receiving a userselection of category limit restriction 534, control circuitry 304 mayallow the user to modify the content restriction associated with theparental control settings of the second user. In some implementations,in response to receiving the user selection of category limitrestriction 534, control circuitry 304 may display a prompt requestingauthentication (e.g., a PIN code or access code) before allowing anymodifications to the parental control settings. In response to verifyingthe authenticity of the user making the change, control circuitry 304may receive input that adds/removes categories of content sources thesecond user is prevented from accessing and/or increases or decreasesthe channel authorization level associated with the second user.

Time limit restriction 540 may indicate how long the given user isallowed to access content with user equipment device 300. Specifically,accessing any content for longer than the amount of time specified intime limit restriction 540 may violate the parental control restriction.In response to receiving a user selection of time limit restriction 540,control circuitry 304 may allow the user to modify the contentrestriction associated with the parental control settings of the thirduser. In some implementations, in response to receiving the userselection of time limit restriction 540, control circuitry 304 maydisplay a prompt requesting authentication (e.g., a PIN code or accesscode) before allowing any modifications to the parental controlsettings. In response to verifying the authenticity of the user makingthe change, control circuitry 304 may receive input thatincreases/decreases the amount of time the third user is allowed to useuser equipment device 300 to access content.

In response to receiving a user selection of add user option 514,control circuitry 304 may allow the user to add another user (e.g., user4) and to specify parental control restrictions for the added user.Parental control restrictions for the added user may be modified in asimilar manner as discussed above in connection with the modify option512.

Although only three different types of content parental controlrestrictions are shown and described (e.g., rating limits, channelrestrictions, and category limits) any other types or number of contentrestrictions or authorization levels may be defined for the same ordifferent users.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive a user inputselecting an option to customize criterion/criteria and/or threshold fornotifying a second user about activity performed by a first user thatexceeds an authorization level of the first user. In response toreceiving the user input, control circuitry 304 may navigate the user toscreen 600 (FIG. 6) allowing the user to set up various options for thethreshold and/or the attributes/characteristics of content beingpresented that is monitored to determine whether to add a content sourcefrom which the content is being received to the list.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative display of a view timer setup screen 600 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. Screen 600 includes athreshold setup region 610 and a criterion/criteria setup region 620.Region 610 may include options to modify the current value for the timerthreshold which may be used to determine when to notify a second userabout activity performed by a first user that exceeds an authorizationlevel of the first user. Region 620 may include options to enable a userto select which attributes or characteristics of content being presentedto the user has to match the criterion/criteria in order to initiatemeasurement of time that the content having theattributes/characteristics is being presented. In particular, themeasurement of time during which attributes/characteristics of contentmatch criteria/criterion (previously selected) may be conditioned onwhether the content currently being shown is associated withattributes/characteristics that match the criteria/criterion.Specifically, control circuitry 304 may retrieveattributes/characteristics of content being accessed and compare theretrieved attributes or characteristics with the criterion/criteria setin region 620 to determine whether to start/continue measuring timewhich the attributes/characteristics of the content being presentedmatches the criterion. When the attributes/characteristics of thecontent being presented from the content source stop matching thecriterion/criteria set in region 620, control circuitry 304 pauses orstops the current time measurement and resumes measuring time when theattributes/characteristics of the content being presented from thecontent source starts matching the criterion/criteria again.

In some embodiments, any selections made in connection with screen 500or screen 600 may be provided using an external memory device (e.g., aUSB controller). In response to control circuitry 304 detecting theexternal memory device, control circuitry 304 may read any settingsassociated with screen 500 or screen 600 and store those settings instorage 308 of user equipment device 300. This allows a user to manuallymove settings from one device to another.

Region 610 may include a display that indicates the current setting forthe threshold value. Option 612 may be provided to enable the user tomodify the value for the threshold. In response to receiving a userselection of option 612, control circuitry 304 may request input fromthe user with a new value for the threshold. Control circuitry 304 mayreceive the value for the threshold from the user and replace thepreviously stored value in storage 308 with the new value. The user mayspecify any range of values for the threshold. Control circuitry 304 mayuse the threshold specified in region 610 to determine when to notify asecond user about activity performed by a first user that exceeds anauthorization level of the first user. In some implementations, controlcircuitry 304 may recommend a new threshold value for the user inresponse to receiving a selection of option 612. Specifically, controlcircuitry 304 may determine the average viewing time of content on agiven channel for the first user. Control circuitry 304 may recommend athreshold value that represents the average viewing time and the usermay select the recommended value to replace the current threshold value.

In some embodiments, an option to make the threshold dynamic may beprovided (not shown). Setting the threshold to be dynamic may cause thethreshold to increase or decrease based on how many criteria a givencontent being presented matches. For example, content that matches agreater number of criteria may cause a shorter threshold to be used and,consequently, the second user is notified about activity performed by afirst user that exceeds an authorization level of the first user morequickly. Alternatively, content that matches a lower number of criteriathan another may cause a longer threshold to be used and, consequently,the second user is notified about activity performed by a first userthat exceeds an authorization level of the first user after a longerperiod of time. Specifically, in response to setting the dynamicthreshold option, control circuitry 304 may determine how many of thecriteria set in region 620 match a piece of content being presented. Foreach number of criteria that the content being presented matches,control circuitry 304 may decrease the threshold amount by apredetermined number (e.g., 5 seconds). For example, the threshold maybe initially set to one minute and 15 seconds. The user may be presentedwith a content that matches 3 out of 10 criteria. Accordingly, thethreshold may be decreased to 1 minute and, consequently, controlcircuitry 304 may notify the second user about activity performed by afirst user that exceeds an authorization level of the first user if thecontent continues to match the 3 out of 10 criterion for a period of 1minute.

Region 620 may include various options/settings to change and controlwhat criteria are analyzed and monitored from the content beingpresented to trigger the measurement of viewing time. Specifically,control circuitry 304 may determine whether attributes orcharacteristics of the content being presented matches the criteriaspecified and selected in region 620. In response to determining thatthe content being presented has attributes/characteristics that matchthe criteria selected in region 620, control circuitry 304 may initiateor resume measuring how long the content is being presented. Theoptions/settings in region 620 allow the parent user or an adult user toselect what content a child user should not be exposed to for over athreshold period of time. Namely, options/settings in region 620 allowthe parent user to have control over how much exposure to content havingcertain attributes and that exceeds an authorization level of a givenuser the given user can access before the parent is notified about theactivity that exceeds the authorization level. These options/settingsrepresent content that one user (e.g., a parent user) does not wantanother user (e.g., a child user) to access for longer than a thresholdperiod of time.

Region 620 may include a user profile option 621, a genre option 622, ascene type option 623, a length option 624, a rating option 625, a timeof day option 626, other users in proximity to the first user option 627and a team option 628. Other options not shown in region 620 may beprovided without departing from the teachings of this invention but arenot being discussed for the sake of brevity. Options shown in region 620are illustrated as radio buttons to indicate that any one or all of theoptions in region 620 may be selected. The criteria defined by thoseoptions in region 620 with a radio button selected are used by controlcircuitry 304 to match against attributes or characteristics of contentbeing presented to the user. The criteria defined by those options inregion 620 with a radio button not selected are ignored or not used bycontrol circuitry 304 to match against attributes or characteristics ofcontent being presented to the user.

User profile option 621 may allow a user to specify one or more userprofiles. In response to selecting user profile option 621, controlcircuitry 304 may present a user profile selection menu 660. Userprofile selection menu 620 may list all of the profiles stored instorage 308, profiles retrieved from a social network, the cloud, or anyother profile. The user may select any one or all of the profiles listedin menu 620. As part of the process of determining whether theattributes/characteristics of the content being presented matches thecriteria specified in region 620, control circuitry 304 may determinewhether attributes of the content meet or exceed preferences stored inthe selected profile(s) when option 621 is selected. For example, theparent user may select his/her own profile using user profile option621. As such, whenever a child user accesses content that matches theinterests of the parent, and that content is viewed by the child userfor a threshold period of time, the parent user will be notified.

In some implementations, a percent match selection option 662 may beprovided. The user may input a percentage in option 662 to indicate athreshold value for which attributes/characteristics of content beingpresented have to exceed in matching preferences stored in the profilesselected in menu 660. For example, control circuitry 304 may compute aEuclidian distance between attributes/characteristics of content beingpresented and preferences stored in the profile(s) selected in menu 660.Control circuitry 304 may derive a percentage match from the computedEuclidian distance and compare the percentage to the percentagespecified in option 662. In response to determining that the percentagematch exceeds the percentage specified in option 662, control circuitry304 may determine that the attributes/characteristics of the contentbeing presented matches the criteria of the user profile option 621.When no value is specified in option 662, control circuitry 304 maydetermine whether an average number of attributes/characteristics of thecontent being presented matches the preferences specified in theprofile(s) selected in menu 660.

Genre option 622 may allow a user to specify a genre for use incomparing against attributes or characteristics of content beingpresented to the user. In response to selecting genre option 622,control circuitry 304 may present a list of various genres (e.g.,comedy, action, drama, sci-fi, sports, etc.), categories and/orcombination categories. The user may select any one or all of thegenres, categories and/or combination categories listed for option 622.As part of the process of determining whether theattributes/characteristics of the content being presented matches thecriteria specified in region 620, control circuitry 304 may determinewhether a genre, category, and/or combination category of the contentbeing presented meets the selected genres, categories and/or combinationcategories for option 622 when option 622 is selected.

Scene type option 623 may allow a user to specify a scene type for usein comparing against attributes/characteristics of content beingpresented to the user. In response to selecting scene type option 623,control circuitry 304 may present a list of content types (e.g.,animated, violence, nudity, blood, fighting, etc.). The user may selectany one or all of the types listed for option 623. As part of theprocess of determining whether the attributes/characteristics of thecontent being presented matches the criteria specified in region 620,control circuitry 304 may determine whether a type of the content beingpresented meets the selected type for option 623 when option 623 isselected. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine a progressionpoint within the content being accessed beyond the starting point of thecontent. Control circuitry 304 may cross-reference the progression pointand the identifier (e.g., title) of the content with a database ofcontent types to retrieve the content type associated with theprogression point of the content. Control circuitry 304 may compare theretrieved content type with those selected in scene type option 623 todetermine whether a match exists.

In some implementations, control circuitry 304 may adjust the rate ofthe timer based on one or more criteria. For example, control circuitry304 may increase the rate of the timer for some scene types and decreasethe rate of the timer for other scene types. Increasing the rate of thetimer will cause the threshold to be reached at a faster pace andthereby increase the likelihood that the communication will betransmitted to the second user indicating that the first user isaccessing content that exceeds the authorization level. Decreasing therate of the timer will cause the threshold to be reached at a slowerpace and thereby increase the likelihood that the communication will betransmitted to the second user indicating that the first user isaccessing content that exceeds the authorization level.

Length option 624 may allow a user to specify a duration for use incomparing against attributes or characteristics of content beingpresented to the user. In response to selecting length option 624,control circuitry 304 may present a drop-down menu 670 with a list ofdurations for content (e.g., 3 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, user specifiedduration, etc.). The user may select any one or all of the durationslisted in menu 670. As part of the process of determining whether theattributes/characteristics of the content being presented match thecriteria specified in region 620, control circuitry 304 may determinewhether duration of the content being presented meets the durationspecified in menu 670 when option 624 is selected.

Rating option 625 may allow a user to specify a rating for use incomparing against attributes or characteristics of content beingpresented to the user. In response to selecting rating option 625,control circuitry 304 may present a list of ratings (e.g., G, PG, R,PG-13, TV-G, TV-T, TV14, TVMA, TVY7, etc.). The user may select any oneor all of the ratings listed for option 625. As part of the process ofdetermining whether the attributes/characteristics of the content beingpresented match the criteria specified in region 620, control circuitry304 may determine whether a rating assigned to the content beingpresented meets or exceeds the selected rating for option 625 whenoption 625 is selected.

Time of day option 626 may allow a user to specify a time of day for usein comparing against attributes/characteristics of content beingpresented to the user. In response to selecting time of day option 626,control circuitry 304 may present a list of times of day (e.g., morning,afternoon, night, user specified time range, etc.). The user may selectany one or all of the times of day listed for option 626. As part of theprocess of determining whether the attributes or characteristics of thecontent being presented match the criteria specified in region 620,control circuitry 304 may determine whether a time of day in which thecontent is being presented meets the selected time(s) of day for option626 when option 626 is selected.

Other users in proximity to the first user option 627 may allow a userto select whether to identify the presence of other users in proximityto the first user accessing content. Option 627 may allow the user toselect how many other users are in proximity to the first user. Option627 may allow the user to specify particular other users and/or type ofother users (e.g., demographic information of those users). In responseto option 627 being selected, control circuitry 304 may determine whoelse is in the vicinity or proximity of the first user (e.g., the childuser) while content is being presented to the first user. Controlcircuitry 304 may also determine demographic information associated withthe other users. In response to determining that other users are inproximity to the first user (and optionally that those users areassociated with a given demographic attribute, such as over 18 yearsold) while the content is being presented to the first user, controlcircuitry 304 may adjust a speed or rate of the timer used to measurefor how long content being presented matches the criteria.

For example, if the first user is accessing content that exceeds anauthorization level of the first user, control circuitry 304 maydetermine whether other users are in proximity to the first user. Insome implementations, control circuitry 304 may determine whether otherusers are in proximity when another person is detected within less thana threshold distance (e.g., 10 feet) of the first user or if anotherperson is within a perceivable range of equipment device 300 used topresent the content to the first user. When other users are determinedto be within the proximity of the first user, control circuitry 304 mayslow down the rate at which the timer runs. This will cause thethreshold to be reached at a slower pace and thereby lower thelikelihood that the communication will be transmitted to the second userindicating that the first user is accessing content that exceeds theauthorization level. This is because there is a greater likelihood thatthe threshold will not be reached as the content may be changed by oneof the other users before the timer reaches the threshold.Alternatively, when other users are determined not to be within theproximity of the first user, control circuitry 304 may increase the rateat which the timer runs. This will cause the threshold to be reached ata faster pace and thereby increase the likelihood that the communicationwill be transmitted to the second user indicating that the first user isaccessing content that exceeds the authorization level.

Region 620 may include a commercial option (not shown). In response toselecting the commercial option, control circuitry 304 may, as part ofthe process of determining whether the attributes/characteristics of thecontent being presented match the criteria specified in region 620,determine whether the content is in a commercial break (e.g., a portionof the program that is an advertisement and not a plot portion).Specifically, content presented to the user may be a program that hasmultiple plot portions with commercial breaks or interruptions betweenthe plot portions. When the commercial option is selected, controlcircuitry 304 may determine whether the content being presented is inthe plot portion or is in a commercial break. If the content beingpresented is in a commercial break and the commercial option isselected, control circuitry 304 may determine that the content does notmatch criteria set in region 620. Alternatively, if the content beingpresented is in a commercial break and the commercial option is notselected, control circuitry 304 may determine that the content doesmatch criteria set in region 620.

Region 620 may include a biometric response condition option (notshown). In response to selecting the biometric response conditionoption, control circuitry 304 may, as part of the process of determiningwhether the attributes/characteristics of the content being presentedmatch the criteria specified in region 620, determine biometric responseof the user (e.g., a heart rate, attention, face direction, breathingrate, focus, eye gazing, user's presence within range of the screen,etc.) to determine whether the user is interested or is paying attentionto the content being presented. If the biometric response of the userindicates that the user is interested in or is paying attention to thecontent being presented and the biometric response condition option isselected, control circuitry 304 may determine that the content doesmatch criteria set in region 620. Alternatively, if the biometricresponse of the user indicates that the user is not interested in or isnot paying attention to the content being presented and the biometricresponse condition option is selected, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the content does not match criteria set in region 620.

Region 620 may also include a criteria combination selection option 530.Option 630 may allow a user to specify how options 621-627 are logicallycombined in comparing against attributes/characteristics of contentbeing presented to the user. Specifically, option 630 may include alogical OR option and a logical AND option. In response to receiving auser selection of the logical OR option in option 530, control circuitry304 may determine that the content being presented to the user matchesthe criteria/criterion set in region 620 if theattributes/characteristics of the content match any one of selectedoptions 621-627 in region 620. For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the content being presented to the user matches thecriteria set in region 620 if the genre of the content matches the genreselected for option 622 even though the content being presented does notmatch a rating specified for option 625 (e.g., the content may be ratedR and the selected rating for option 625 may be G or lower).

In response to receiving a user selection of the logical AND option inoption 630, control circuitry 304 may determine that the content beingpresented to the user matches the criteria set in region 620 if theattributes/characteristics of the content match every one of selectedoptions 621-627 in region 620. For example, control circuitry 304 maydetermine that the content being presented to the user matches thecriteria set in region 620 if the genre of the content matches the genreselected for option 622 and the content being presented matches a ratingspecified for option 625. Similarly, control circuitry 304 may determinethat the content being presented to the user fails to match the criteriaset in region 620 if the genre of the content matches the genre selectedfor option 622 and the content being presented does not match a ratingspecified for option 625.

Control circuitry 304 may first determine the outcome of every option621-627 selected for region 620 when compared with the content beingpresented to the user. The outcome of every option 621-627 may belogically TRUE when an attribute of the content being presented matchesthe criterion set for a given option 621-627. For example, the outcomemay be TRUE when time of day option 626 is selected to be morning andthe time at which the content being presented to the user is between 8AM-11 AM. The outcome of every option 621-627 may be logically FALSEwhen an attribute of the content being presented fails to match thecriterion set for a given option 621-627.

After determining the outcome of every option 621-627 that is selected,control circuitry 304 may determine whether option 630 is selected to bea logical OR or a logical AND. When option 630 specifies a logical ORwas selected, control circuitry 304 may determine whether the outcome ofany selected option 621-627 was TRUE. If the outcome of any selectedoption 621-627 was TRUE, control circuitry 304 may determine that thecontent being presented to the user matches criteria set in region 620.Consequently, control circuitry 304 may start or continue to measure anamount of time that the content is presented to the user. When option630 specifies a logical AND was selected, control circuitry 304 maydetermine whether the outcome of every selected option 621-627 was TRUE.If the outcome of any selected option 621-627 was FALSE, controlcircuitry 304 may determine that the content being presented to the userdoes not match criteria set in region 620. Consequently, controlcircuitry 304 may pause or not measure an amount of time that thecontent is presented to the user.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may sequentially determinewhether an outcome of a given option 621-627 when compared with thecontent being presented to the user meets the selected logical operationspecified in option 630. This is to avoid having to first compute anddetermine whether the content being presented to the user matches all ofthe selected options and then determining whether the logical operationis met. Specifically, control circuitry 304 may first determine whetheroption 630 is selected to be a logical OR or a logical AND. Afterdetermining whether option 630 is selected to be a logical OR or alogical AND operation, control circuitry 304 may determine an outcome ofa first of options 621-627 selected for region 620 when compared withthe content being presented to the user. If option 630 is selected to bea logical OR and in response to determining that the outcome of thefirst of selected options 621-627 is FALSE, control circuitry 304 maynext determine an outcome of a second of options 621-627. If option 630is selected to be a logical OR and in response to determining that theoutcome of the first of selected options 621-627 is TRUE, controlcircuitry 304 may stop testing outcomes of the remaining selectedoptions 621-627 and may determine that the content being presented meetscriteria/criterion set in region 620. If option 630 is selected to be alogical AND and in response to determining that the outcome of the firstof selected options 621-627 is FALSE, control circuitry 304 may stoptesting outcomes of the remaining selected options 621-627 and maydetermine that the content being presented fails to meetcriteria/criterion set in region 620. If option 630 is selected to be alogical AND and in response to determining that the outcome of the firstof selected options 621-627 is TRUE, control circuitry 304 may nextdetermine an outcome of a second of options 621-627 until outcomes ofall of the selected options 621-627 are determined to be TRUE.

Control circuitry 304 may continue to make the determinations of whetherthe content being presented matches the selected options 621-627 untilall of the selected options are tested or until control circuitry 304determines that the logical operation is TRUE. Specifically, in the caseof option 630 being selected to be an OR operation, control circuitry304 may continue to make the determinations of whether the content beingpresented matches the selected options 621-627 until all of the selectedoptions are tested or until control circuitry 304 determines that thelogical operation is TRUE. In the case of option 630 being selected tobe an AND operation, control circuitry 304 may continue to make thedeterminations of whether the content being presented matches theselected options 621-627 until all of the selected options are testedand determined to be TRUE or until control circuitry 304 determines thatthe logical operation is FALSE (i.e., any one of the outcomes ofselected options 621-627 is determined to be FALSE).

A save option 640 may be included in display 600. In response toreceiving a user selection of save option 640, control circuitry 304 maystore all of the options selected in regions 610 and 620 and return theuser to the previous screen (e.g., the content being presentedpreviously). An exit option 650 may be included in display 600. Inresponse to receiving a user selection of exit option 650, controlcircuitry 304 may discard all of the options selected in regions 610 and620 and return the user to the previous screen (e.g., the content beingpresented previously).

In some embodiments, when a first user accesses content (e.g., when theuser changes channels), control circuitry 304 may determine whether thecontent presented exceeds an authorization level of the first user. Inresponse to determining that the content presented exceeds theauthorization level, control circuitry 304 may determine whether thecontent matches a criterion or criteria. In response to determining thatthe content being presented matches the criterion or criteria, controlcircuitry 304 may start measuring time (e.g., may start a timer) whilethe content being presented matches the criterion or criteria. Controlcircuitry 304 may continuously or periodically determine whether thecontent matches the criterion or criteria and when the content beingpresented stops matching the criterion or criteria (e.g., the contententers a commercial interruption), control circuitry 304 may pausemeasuring time (e.g., may store the current value of a timer). When thecontent being presented resumes matching the criterion or criteria(e.g., the content enters a commercial interruption), control circuitry304 may resume measuring time (e.g., may retrieve the value of a timerstored in memory and continue the timer).

In response to determining that the measured time meets or exceeds athreshold, control circuitry 304 may instruct communications circuitryto transmit a communication to a second user informing the second userabout the activity performed by the first user that exceeds theauthorization level. When the second user receives the communication,the second user can remotely control user equipment device 300 on whichthe first user is accessing the content. For example, the second usermay instruct user equipment device 300 to turn off or prevent thecontent from being further accessed by the first user.

In some embodiments, a user may select a content source (e.g., atelevision channel) and control circuitry 304 may access the selectedcontent source (e.g., tune to the selected television channel). Forexample, control circuitry 304 may receive a user selection of a programlisting from grid 102 and in response may tune to the television channelcorresponding to the selected listing. In some implementations, toidentify the user who is requesting access to the content, controlcircuitry 304 may request that the user log in (e.g., provide a uniquecode, or code specific to the user, fingerprint of the user) beforeenabling access to the content. In some implementations, input interface310 may include a fingerprint reader to enable the user to log in usingthe fingerprint. Based on the login information provided by the user,control circuitry 304 may identify who the user is that is requestingaccess to the content. Control circuitry 304 may display contentreceived from the content source. For example, control circuitry 304 maydisplay the video of the program received from the television channel.Control circuitry 304 may identify who the user is that selected thecontent source and is accessing the content. Control circuitry 304 mayretrieve a profile associated with the user and the authorization levelassociated to the user. For example, control circuitry 304 may retrievethe authorization level assigned to the user using screen 500 (FIG. 5).

Control circuitry 304 may determine whether the user is authorized toaccess the requested content. Specifically, control circuitry 304 maydetermine whether the content exceeds the retrieved authorization levelof the user.

In response to determining that the content exceeds the authorizationlevel of the user, control circuitry 304 may initialize a view timer(e.g., set a counter to zero). Control circuitry 304 may determinewhether attributes of the accessed content match criteria selected inregion 620 (FIG. 6) or some other predefined default criteria (e.g.,whether the content is in a commercial break or not). The above andbelow discussions pertain to an implementation whereattributes/characteristics of content being presented are compared withcriteria/criterion set in region 620. However, the teachings of thisdisclosure apply similarly to embodiments where criteria/criterion arenot selected in region 620 but are set to default value(s). For example,the system may be set up to check whether content being presented is ofa certain genre or has a scene type and condition whether time shouldcontinue to be measured or paused based on this check.

In response to determining that the attributes of content 610 match thecriteria selected in region 620, control circuitry 304 may start theview timer. Based on the criteria selected in region 620, controlcircuitry 304 may also adjust the timer rate (e.g., speed up or slowdown the timer based on the criteria selected in region 620 that matchesthe content). Control circuitry 304 may periodically or continuouslymonitor the attributes of the content. For example, control circuitry304 may analyze closed-caption data or may request updated datastructures for the content being presented on the selected contentsource from a local or remote database. While attributes of the contentbeing presented continue to match the criteria selected in region 620,the view timer may continue to count or measure time. However, upondetermining that the attributes of content being presented changed andno longer match the criteria selected in region 620, control circuitry304 may pause (e.g., stop) the view timer. While the view timer ispaused, control circuitry 304 may periodically or continuously monitorthe attributes of the content in a similar manner as discussed above todetermine whether attributes of the content changed to again match thecriteria selected in region 620. When the attributes of the contentchange to again match the criteria selected in region 620, controlcircuitry 304 may resume the view timer (e.g., may resume measuring timefrom the last point at which it was stopped).

For example, a user may select the FOX television channel as a contentsource. Control circuitry 304 may tune to the FOX television channel anddisplay video of the show ““Family Guy”” currently being received onthat channel. Upon tuning to the selected channel, control circuitry 304may determine whether the user is authorized to view the channel (e.g.,whether access to the channel exceeds an authorization level of theuser). In response to determining that access to the channel exceeds theauthorization level of the user, control circuitry 304 may initializethe view counter (e.g., set the timer to the value “0”). Controlcircuitry 304 may determine that ““Family Guy”” is associated with agenre attribute, comedy, and is currently presenting a scene type ofviolence. Control circuitry 304 may determine that criteria selected inregion 620 are: genre option 622 with a setting of comedy and scene typeoption 623 with a setting of violence. Accordingly, control circuitry304 may determine that the genre attribute of the show ““Family Guy””matches the criteria set in region 620. In response to determining thatthe attributes of the show match, control circuitry 304 may instruct theview timer to start measuring time (e.g., count time up or incrementperiodically, such as every second).

While the show “Family Guy” is being presented on the selectedtelevision channel FOX, control circuitry 304 may monitor the attributesof the show. Control circuitry 304 may determine that, after 20 secondsof presenting the show, the one of the attributes that was determined tomatch (e.g., scene type of violence) no longer matches. Specifically,control circuitry 304 may determine that the current progression pointof the show is associated with an animated scene type and therefore doesnot match the violence scene type that was selected in region 620.Accordingly, control circuitry 304 may determine that although the samecontent is being presented (e.g., the show “Family Guy”), the contentnow includes attributes that no longer match the criteria set in region620 (FIG. 6). In response, control circuitry 304 may instruct the viewtimer to stop measuring time (e.g., pause time at 20 seconds) andcontinue presenting video of the show to the user.

Control circuitry 304 may monitor the attributes of the show while thetimer is paused, and after another 2 minutes of the timer being pausedat 20 seconds, control circuitry 304 may determine that the showincludes attributes that match the attributes set in region 620 (e.g.,the show is no longer in an animated portion of the plot and returned toa violence portion). Accordingly, control circuitry 304 may instruct theview timer to resume measuring time from the previous paused portion. Inthis scenario, although the user has watched or been presented with thecontent on the selected content source for 2 minutes and 20 seconds,only 20 seconds are measured by the view timer reflecting only theportions of time that the content being presented included attributesthat match criteria set in region 620.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may retrieve a threshold setin region 610 (FIG. 6) from storage 308. Specifically, control circuitry304 may retrieve from storage 308 a value assigned to the threshold fordetermining when to transmit a communication to the second userindicating that the first user is accessing content that exceeds anauthorization level of the first user. Control circuitry 304 may storethe value of the threshold in the view timer. The view timer maycontinuously or periodically compare the current view timer value (for agiven content source) with the stored threshold. When the view timerdetermines that the current view timer value exceeds the threshold, theview timer may generate an interrupt in control circuitry 304. Forexample, the view timer may transmit a communication or signal tocontrol circuitry 304 indicating that the view time for the contentsource from which the content is being presented has exceeded thethreshold value. In response to the interrupt, communication or signal,control circuitry 304 may transmit an instruction to communicationscircuitry indicating to communications circuitry to send a communicationto the second user indicating that the first user is accessing contentthat exceeds an authorization level of the first user.

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative flow diagram of a process 700 for notifyinga user when activity exceeds an authorization level in accordance withan embodiment of the invention. At step 710, a request to access contentis received from a first user. For example, a first user using userequipment device 300 may request control circuitry 304 to change thecontent source (e.g., channel) or request that content be streamed froma given source. The request may be performed by the user selecting aprogram listing from the grid shown in FIG. 1 or mosaic shown in FIG. 2.

At step 720, the identity of the first user is determined. For example,control circuitry 304 may query the first user to input a code orunique/specific identifier of the first user in response to receivingthe request to access the content. In some implementations, controlcircuitry 304 may identify the first user based on biometric informationassociated with the first user (e.g., a biometric signature). In someimplementations, control circuitry 304 may identify the first user basedon verbal input supplied by the first user (e.g., a voice signature). Insome implementations, control circuitry 304 may identify the first userby scanning a fingerprint of the first user.

At step 730, an authorization level that is associated with the identityof the first user is retrieved. For example, based on information storedin storage 308 that is input using screen 500 (FIG. 5), controlcircuitry 304 may cross-reference the identity of the first user with alist of users for which an authorization level is specified in screen500. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve the authorization levelassociated with the first user from storage 308. For example, controlcircuitry 304 may retrieve an authorization level that indicates thefirst user is allowed to consume or access content on user equipmentdevice 300 for a total of less than one hour and for content that has arating of ‘G’ and below.

At step 740, a determination is made as to whether the content requestedexceeds the retrieved authorization level. In response to determiningthat the content exceeds the authorization level, the process proceedsto step 750, otherwise the process proceeds to step 710. For example,control circuitry 304 may compare attributes or characteristics of therequested content with the authorization level to determine whether theattributes or characteristics exceed the authorization level.

At step 750, one or more characteristics or attributes associated withthe requested content that is being presented are retrieved. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may retrieve a title and content sourceidentifier (or current time and content source identifier) of thecontent being presented and prepare an SQL query that includes thisinformation. Control circuitry 304 may transmit the SQL query to a localor remote database. The local or remote database may identify a datastructure associated with the content identified by the information inthe SQL query. The data structure may include characteristics orattributes of the content. The local or remote database may transmitback to control circuitry 304 the data structure with thecharacteristics or attributes of the content currently presented to theuser. In some implementations, control circuitry 304 may perform anon-the-fly or real-time analysis of the video, audio or metadataassociated with the content being presented to determine acharacteristic or attribute of the content. In some implementations,control circuitry 304 may cross-reference a progression point within thecontent with a database of progression point attributes orcharacteristics to identify the attribute or characteristic associatedwith a given scene of the content being presented.

At step 760, a timer is initialized, criteria for conditioning timemeasurement are retrieved, and a threshold value is selected. Forexample, control circuitry 304 may set a timer data structure to zeroand retrieve one or more criteria set in region 620 (FIG. 6) fromstorage 308 or may retrieve a predefined set of criteria stored instorage 308 as default criteria. Control circuitry 304 may store thetimer data structure in storage 308.

At step 770, a determination is made as to whether the characteristic orattribute of the content being presented meets or matches acriterion/criteria that is retrieved. In response to determining thecharacteristic or attribute of the content meets or matchescriterion/criteria, the process proceeds to step 780, otherwise theprocess proceeds to step 794. For example, control circuitry 304 mayretrieve from the data structure associated with the content beingpresented one or more content characteristics or attributes and comparethose characteristics or attributes to the criteria selected or set inregion 620.

At step 780, a timer rate of the timer is adjusted based on whether theattribute that meets one or more criteria is associated with a rateadjustment. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that theone or more criteria relates to another user being within proximity ofthe first user. In such circumstances, control circuitry 304 maydetermine whether there is another user within proximity of the firstuser and in response may decrease the timer rate. Alternatively, controlcircuitry 304 may determine whether there is not another user withinproximity of the first user and in response may increase the timer rate.

At step 790, an amount of time the content being presented meets the oneor more criteria is measured using the adjusted timer (or unadjustedtimer). Control circuitry 304 may retrieve the timer from storage 308.For example, the timer may be incremented every second to measure theamount of time that content with attributes or characteristics matchingthe criterion is being presented. When the timer was previously paused,control circuitry 304 may resume measuring time from the point at whichit was paused based on the previously stored timer data structure instorage 308.

At step 794, the timer of content that is currently being presented andmeets the criterion or criteria is paused. For example, the current timemeasured by the timer may be stored in storage 308 and retrieved whenthe time measurement needs to be resumed.

At step 792, a determination is made as to whether the timer exceeds athreshold. In response to determining the timer exceeds a threshold, theprocess proceeds to step 796; otherwise the process proceeds to step770. For example, control circuitry 304 may compare the value of thetimer (continuously or periodically) with a threshold set in region 610(FIG. 6) to determine whether the threshold is met or exceeded.

At step 796, a communication is transmitted to a second user indicatingthat the content currently being presented to the first user exceeds theauthorization level of the first user. For example, control circuitry304 may instruct communications circuitry to send a message to thesecond user (e.g., to a second screen device or another user equipmentdevice 300). In some implementations, the communication may include anidentifier of the content, identifier of the first user, indication ofwhat authorization level was exceeded and options to control equipmentdevice 300 on which the content is being accessed by the first user. Thesecond user may initiate a voice or video call with the first user inresponse to receiving the communication. The second user may pause orterminate access to the content by the first user by transmitting acommunication back to equipment device 300 on which the first user isaccessing the content. In some implementations, an image of the seconduser may be provided to the first user on user equipment device 300 inresponse to transmitting the communication to the second user. In someimplementations, the second user may transmit a communication back toequipment device 300 on which the first user is accessing the contentthat increases or changes the authorization level of the first user andallows the first user to continue accessing the content on equipmentdevice 300.

It should be understood that, as discussed above, the second user andfirst user are operating different equipment devices 300 in accordancewith embodiments of this invention. In some implementations, the firstand second users are in different geographical locations (e.g., remotefrom each other, in different rooms in a household, in differentcountries, in different buildings, etc.).

It should be understood that the above steps of the flow diagram of FIG.7 may be executed or performed in any order or sequence not limited tothe order and sequence shown and described in the figure. Also, some ofthe above steps of the flow diagram of FIG. 7 may be executed orperformed substantially simultaneously where appropriate or in parallelto reduce latency and processing times.

The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are presentedfor purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the presentdisclosure is limited only by the claims which follow.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for generating a notification whenactivity exceeds an authorization level, the method comprising:determining whether content currently being presented to a first userexceeds an authorization level associated with the first user; inresponse to determining that the content exceeds the authorizationlevel, monitoring the content being presented to determine whether thecontent meets a criterion; measuring an amount of time the content beingpresented meets the criterion; and in response to determining the amountof time exceeds a threshold, transmitting a communication to a seconduser indicating that the content currently being presented to the firstuser exceeds the authorization level.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein:the content includes a program segment and an advertising segment;monitoring the content comprises determining whether the contentcurrently being presented corresponds to the program segment or theadvertising segment; and the content currently being presented isdetermined to meet the criterion when the content currently beingpresented corresponds to the program segment.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein measuring the amount of time comprises: running a timer whilethe content being presented meets the criterion; and pausing the timerwhile the content being presented fails to meet the criterion.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 further comprising: determining a progression point inthe content past a starting point of the content; identifying a type ofthe content that is being presented at the progression point; andretrieving the criterion based on the type of the content.
 5. The methodof claim 4 further comprising retrieving the threshold based on the typeof the content being presented at the progression point.
 6. The methodof claim 1, wherein the criterion is determined based on a user profile.7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user is at a locationremote from the first user, and wherein the communication enables thesecond user to prevent further access by the first user to the contentcurrently being presented.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein measuringthe amount of time comprises measuring the amount of time at a fasterrate when the content currently being presented is of a first type andmeasuring the amount of time at a slower rate when the content currentlybeing presented is of a second type.
 9. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising adjusting the threshold based on at least one of a number ofother users within proximity of the first user and an attribute ofanother user within the proximity of the first user.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the authorization level corresponds to a contentrating.
 11. A system for generating a notification when activity exceedsan authorization level, the system comprising: storage circuitryconfigured to store an authorization level associated with a first user,a criterion, and a threshold; communications circuitry; and controlcircuitry coupled to the storage circuitry and the communicationscircuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to: retrieve theauthorization level associated with the first user from the storagecircuitry; determine whether content currently being presented to thefirst user exceeds the retrieved authorization level associated with thefirst user; in response to determining that the content exceeds theauthorization level, retrieve the criterion from the storage circuitryand monitor the content being presented to determine whether the contentmeets the criterion; measure an amount of time the content beingpresented meets the criterion; retrieve the threshold from the storagecircuitry; and in response to determining the amount of time exceeds theretrieved threshold, instruct the communications circuitry to transmit acommunication to a second user indicating that the content currentlybeing presented to the first user exceeds the authorization level. 12.The system of claim 11, wherein: the content includes a program segmentand an advertising segment; the control circuitry is further configuredto determine whether the content currently being presented correspondsto the program segment or the advertising segment; and the contentcurrently being presented is determined to meet the criterion when thecontent currently being presented corresponds to the program segment.13. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is furtherconfigured to measure the amount of time by: running a timer while thecontent being presented meets the criterion; and pausing the timer whilethe content being presented fails to meet the criterion.
 14. The systemof claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to:determine a progression point in the content past a starting point ofthe content; identify a type of the content that is being presented atthe progression point; and retrieve from the storage circuitry thecriterion based on the type of the content.
 15. The system of claim 14,wherein the control circuitry is further configured to retrieve thethreshold based on the type of the content being presented at theprogression point.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the criterion isdetermined based on a user profile.
 17. The system of claim 11, whereinthe second user is at a location remote from the first user, and whereinthe communication enables the second user to prevent further access bythe first user to the content currently being presented.
 18. The systemof claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured tomeasure the amount of time by measuring the amount of time at a fasterrate when the content currently being presented is of a first type andmeasuring the amount of time at a slower rate when the content currentlybeing presented is of a second type.
 19. The system of claim 11, whereinthe control circuitry is further configured to adjust the thresholdstored in the storage circuitry based on at least one of a number ofother users within proximity of the first user and an attribute ofanother user within the proximity of the first user.
 20. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the authorization level corresponds to a contentrating.